


Chained

by TeaRoses



Category: Silent Hill
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-24
Updated: 2012-08-24
Packaged: 2017-11-12 18:46:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/494466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeaRoses/pseuds/TeaRoses
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eileen still bears the marks of Walter's attack.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chained

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the "scars" prompt at Cotton Candy Bingo. Does contain some angst and references to past violence.

"Turn the light off, Henry."

"Eileen, really, it's--"

"Turn it off!"

Every time they made love Eileen would insist on the lights being off and the room completely dark. Henry usually didn't even argue, and tonight he gave in quickly. Eileen undressed in the darkness as he did the same, then she came to him and caressed his chest before pulling him down against her on the bed. 

Henry was very careful not to touch her back, as that was another thing she could not stand. Of course he knew why -- it was the numbers that Walter had cut there. He could barely feel anything there with his hands, not that he tried anymore, but he knew what was there. 

20/21

This marked her as almost the last of Walter's victims. Henry was to have been the last, but he had escaped being marked. 

Sometimes Henry wanted to tell her that it had been over two years since they left South Ashfield Heights and she wasn't a victim anymore. That he didn't mind her scars at all, which was perfectly true. But who was he to order her around about her own feelings?

And Henry was too reserved to come out and say even what should be said. Sometimes he wondered if Eileen would want more of a relationship than just talking to Henry on the phone a few times a week and seeing him a few times a month. He knew she had no other boyfriends as she had told him that much and he certainly didn't see other women. But maybe she just got enough of him after a while. He didn't want to be pushy or demanding toward her. After all, she could probably get any guy she wanted and she settled for him.

It didn't matter so much if she didn't want him to see her nude or touch her back, really. He could still lose himself in the feel of her, the heat of her mouth, the weight of her when she lay against his chest after their lovemaking. The joining of their bodies proved to both of them that they were alive. And Eileen was beautiful whether the lights were on or off. 

Then one month he didn't hear from her as often as usual, and when she did call she just chatted and didn't even suggest meeting. He cursed his own inability to talk to her about what really mattered. Now he hadn't seen her in weeks, and she might think he just didn't care when the opposite was true. Then finally one day she called again.

"Henry, I want you to come over," she said. "Tonight would be good, if you can make it."

"Sure," he said with profound relief. 

When he got to Eileen's apartment she looked nervous. She beckoned him into the bedroom and told him to turn around. He had no idea what was happening but did as she said.

"All right, now you can look."

He turned to see that Eileen's back was to him and her shirt was off. And she had been tattooed. Covering the numbers were broken black ovals, clearly meant to be links of a thick chain that had been destroyed. He could still see the "20/21" there, but the broken chain was what would now draw a person's eye.

Surrounding all of this was another chain, a whole circle, with gray links.

"It's really... wow," said Henry. He didn't want to call it "beautiful," but in a way it really was. 

"It took me years for the scars to heal enough to get this done, and then it took a while for it to be finished. " Eileen said. "Do you want to know what it means?"

"Of course I do," Henry replied.

"The broken chain is to show that Walter doesn't have a hold on me anymore. That I broke free from where he held us."

"You did," said Henry. "And what does the whole chain mean?"

"It's the chain I fought the monsters with," she said. "And it's... well, maybe I shouldn't say it."

"You should say it," Henry replied gently.

"It's the chain the binds us." Eileen turned and looked into his eyes. "Because of what we went through together, and because I love you, Henry," she said softly.

He held her close to him. "I love you, too," he said. He put his hands on her back, stroking her, and she didn't stop him.

"We can leave the lights on," she murmured as she kissed him, and he smiled.


End file.
